Preface: Today I’m going to take a bit of a break from the never-ending stream of BC Seasonal Reviews to publish an actual article. Yes, what follows is a carefully researched BarleyMowat.com original. I even called people and conducted interviews for this one, although sadly I could not locate my fedora & “press” tag in time to wear it.

Pop quiz time: If I were to say “Cascadia” to you, what sort of beer would I be describing? Odds are that the vast majority of you just thought something like “Hop-forward” or “Cascadian Dark.” One of you, though, did not. One of you thought “Why, Steamworks’ Cascadia Cream Ale, of course!”

That one person is Mr. Eli Gershkovitch, or as he’s better known in beer circles, The Guy Who Owns Steamworks. Not only does Mr. Gerschkovitch feel that the word “Cascadia” is irrevocably associated with his (no longer brewed) Cascadia Cream Ale, but he feels this so strongly that he’s contacting everyone else using the term (or, more accurately, the somewhat-similar-but-not-actually-the-same term “Cascadian”).

Yup, Eli is using his trademark for the term Cascadia (Registration Number TMA669027), as applied to beer and beer-related wares, to send out a volley of calls warning of Cease & Desists to breweries that dared call their Cascadian Dark Ale a “Cascadian Dark Ale.”

Now, I don’t take issue with registering a trademark for your beers. In fact, I feel it’s a prudent step that breweries all-too-often forgo, on the basis of “everyone’s nice in the craft beer industry” or maybe more accurately “meh… seems like work.”

Much like cleaning the mash tun, though, it needs to be done. And please don’t make the interns do this one.

The reality of the matter is that not everyone in craft beer is nice, and that not all of the beer industry is craft at all. If another brewery decided tomorrow to produce a beer called “Singularity Russian Imperial Stout” there really isn’t much Driftwood could easily do about it, and almost every other craft brewery in BC is in a similar state.

So from that angle registering a trademark for your beer is a terribly good idea, however, the trick is around when you need to realize that your trademark is no longer worth fighting over.

Since 1999, when Eli first filed his trademark, the term “Cascadia” has developed another meaning entirely, and that’s the one that everyone out there parroted at the start of this article. Not only is that meaning completely incompatible with a Cream Ale (malt-forward, smooth body), but Cascadian-style ales aren’t even using the term protected in the trademark.

They’re using “CascadiaN,” not “Cascadia.” Combine that ‘N’ with the fact that the beers in question are not actually named Cascadia, but rather just described as such, and you’ve got a trademark that will be very hard to enforce in court.

So not only is Eli bullying fellow craft beers with an old trademark on a beer he no longer brews; he’s doing so without a solid argument. Why bother? Well, it’s all nice and feel-goody to be in the right with such things, but it’s another issue entirely to pay a lawyer to talk to another lawyer and convince them of just how right you are.

Sure, some of the more resource-rich breweries have consulted an IP lawyer and then held the phone away from their ears while said lawyer screamed “The fuck?!” but for most breweries, even that much lawyering is money they can ill afford to not spend on making beer.

And that’s the game plan: convince the little guys that even if they win, they’ll lose because of the finances required for that victory. I hate to admit it, but Eli’s on to something here. Small craft breweries honestly cannot afford to put up a fight, so they’ll sign off on whatever they need to in order to make this all “just go away.”

Much like prison, giving in without a fight is rarely a permanent solution.

The end result will be that breweries are afraid to use the proper descriptor for a Cascadian Dark Ale, and we wind up with a Christmas Dark Ale or some such, all just to keep things less complicated.

But why? Why is he doing this? I’ve had a few talks with different brewers over the past few weeks while researching this article, and while the words used to describe Eli have varied from slightly uncomplimentary to maternally disrespectful to downright physically impossible, none of them were “stupid.”

Eli didn’t just wake up one winter’s morning and decide “What the hell, I’m bored! I think today I’ll undertake a program designed to systematically and mortally offend the craft brewing industry in British Columbia for shits and giggles. Yes, this will require large amounts of my time and make me look like a complete and utter douchebag, but why not? Gotta be better than knitting!”

Please note: When contacted to answer “What Gives?” Steamworks elected to skip the chance to explain their point of view and replied with “No Comment.” What follows is therefore my best, educated guess as to the motivation behind all this drama.

Nope, he’s got a plan, and that plan has a lot to do with Section 36 of the Trade-marks Act. Section 36, for those of you that don’t spend your spare time reading Canadian IP Law, is the “use it or lose it” clause with regard to trademarks. Basically, if you have a trademark on something, you have to use it at least once every three years, or you risk easily losing it.

Coincidentally, the last time Steamworks appears to have brewed a beer with the Cascadia name is… winter 2010, and boy is that three-year anniversary coming up fast. In short, they’re getting ready to use it.

But what will this new beer be? Will they resurrect Cascadia Cream Ale, kitshy graphics and all? Doubtful, as it’s just not commercially viable to produce a sweet, malty beer and call it “Cascadia.” Consumers will buy it, open it, and say “What the hell is this?” before angrily demanding their money back. That’s what’s called “Bad PR” in the business.

I figure they’re brewing up a proper CDA, and Eli is using his bully tactics to clear the playing field prior to its release, rather than have his CDA compete with a handful of other similarly styled beers based on, you know, actual merit.

Sure, those other beers will be there, likely labeled as “Black IPA” or even “CDA” and yes, we’ll know they’re really Cascadian Dark Ales, but sadly, not everyone reads this blog. The average beer consumer will not equate the labels, and the playing field will wind up being just a little bit tilted in Steamworks’ favour.

What can we do about this? We’re the beer buying public, and obviously we won’t stand for acute asshattery of this nature, so what actions can we take? Sure, we could simply not buy his beer, but even if all 50 of my regular readers take part in such a boycott Steamworks likely wouldn’t even notice.

What we need to do is get the word out. Eli likes to see himself as a man of the people. He’s always willing to talk to the press and get his good name out there so that we can see that, deep down, he’s just like us. It doesn’t matter the topic, be it talking about luxury waterfront real estate, affordable Ferrari ownership, or even flying your private plane to Europe, he’s your guy for fluff pieces that make him look good (or at least that make him look like a less attractive, budget version of Richard Branson).

Eli is particularly sensitive to PR, is what I’m saying here, and if only there was some sort of media that’s driven by the people… some sort of “social media,” should such a thing exist? Oh yeah, I’m doing this:

Voice your displeasure; let them know what you think. In the meantime, Eli, if you’re still reading this, please take a moment away from that Cease & Desist addressed to me that you are no doubt drafting in the next window, and think this over.

I know you figure that you’re just defending a trademark that is rightfully yours, but you have to let this one go, buddy. You’re doing serious damage to both your own and Steamworks’ reputation in the craft beer industry, and the industry is small enough that this will come back to bite you in the ass. Perhaps you think Steamworks’ can stand on its own, but look around you. Look at your staff in the brewery and brewpub. See that look on their faces? They aren’t so sure. I cannot believe that someone there hasn’t said something to you about this. Listen to them.

Besides, how does this end? There are 11 breweries in Canada making several different Cascadian beers (lager, dark, pale, IPA). I’ll even list them for you: Alley Kat, Banff Avenue, Brewsters, Flying Monkeys, Granville Island, Howe Sound, Old Stone, Phillips, Red Truck, Spinnakers, Yukon. And then there are the importers: Alameda, Boundary Bay, Hopworks, and The Commons, and more every day. Are you going to take on all of them? What happens when one of them has deep enough pockets to fight back? What then?

Don’t turn your greatest assest–the community of craft brewers–into a liability. Work with them on this one. Have a round table and discuss what your concerns are; they’ll listen. Even now, this far along, they’re willing to work with you. Free “Cascadia” and it will be a massive PR boost for Steamworks. Brew a collaboration beer to celebrate the moment. I’d buy that.

Even if collaboration isn’t your style and you really just want to make a Steamworks CDA, let the trademark go, man. Trust me on this one. Put out your CDA and make it a good one. It’ll do just fine on its merits alone. Steamworks brews great beer, the best beer in BC by some measures. When people walk into a bottle shop and see your product, let them think about that, and not about why it’s the only Cascadian Dark Ale on the shelf.

Update: And in a move that surprises pretty much no one, Steamworks has deleted all posts mentioning this issue from their Facebook page.

Update 2: I have received a response from Eli in which he reveal plans to license Cascadia to craft breweries for ~$1 ; I will update with Eli’s full response and reaction tomorrow.

They need to send this piece of shit a cease and desist right back; he is attempting to obstruct legitimate commerce through unjust coercion, which is illegal. Hopefully, someone will punch him in the face for this so that he learns that he cannot simply hide behind his expected safety within civilized society. Also, full boycott of his beer is in order.

Couple of things. One, would you mind putting a second ‘t’ in asshattery? Otherwise it comes across as ass-hater-y. Like a description of ass-hating. Makes no sense. Two ‘t’s, as in ‘hatter’. There you go.

Second, doesn’t the word ‘Cascadia’ here actually refer to the geographical region of the Canadian Cascades, close to Vancouver? Looking at Steamworks’ own graphics, which show mountains (but not a single hop), that would appear to be the case anyway. Wasn’t that usage common long before Steamworks even existed?

I hope the other breweries do get together and fight this dough-hole. I think any half decent lawyer would shred his case. In the meantime, this definitely needs to be posted around the web to shine a bright light on this idiotic asshattery and to generate as much anti PR as possible for Senor Asshat himself.

Red Truck did this to Phillips over their Blue Truck Ale a few years ago. I haven’t had a Red Truck since then. There are plenty of good beers out there. Steamworks is just another on the list of good beers made by dickheads that I can now avoid just as easily.

Eli didn’t just wake up one winter’s morning and decide “What the hell, I’m bored! I think today I’ll undertake a program designed to systematically and mortally offend the craft brewing industry in British Columbia for shits and giggles. Yes, this will require large amounts of my time and make me look like a complete and utter douchebag, but why not? Gotta be better than knitting!”

Ummm… I actually think this is exactly what he did. Except it was in the Spring.

While I agree with your assumption that he is doing this due to the 3 year limitation, I would like to offer another angle. I also own a trademark ( well a few actually) and since I registered my TM a few companies have started trading under my name. And legally, it is my name. I “coined” it first so to speak. If you wanted to use it after I paid a lot of money to register it with the government and didn’t take the 5 minutes to find out if there was a trademark – that should be your problem. Alas that’s not the case. I have to defend my right to my name.
You want to open McDonalds Hot Dogs? Well you can’t. You know why. McDonald’s owns that shit. So why do Canadian small business owners think that Trademark is only relevant when a multi billion dollar company owns it? You want to call your beer/bar/restaurant etc. something? CIPO search it. Do us all a favor. Because ultimately the only people doing well by this are high priced Burrard Street lawyers.

Ha, there were a whole bunch of angry posts on their Facebook page from people objecting to this asshattery that Steamworks seems to have deleted.
Luckily they can’t remove people’s tweets referencing them.

Whoa up there friends! Steamworks beer is not MADE by assholes! It’s made by a serious dude, Conrad Gmoser (spelling?) who is nothing short of a legend. A man my taste buds have been thanking for years. Cheers Conrad.

As for TM’s. Well, that’s another issue. Steamworks is owned by a business man, not a Brewer and as a business man, Eli is protecting his brand. Have I met the guy? Yes, recently at a beer fest. Do I like the guy? Not particularly, I find him awkward and uncomfortable, but I don’t hold it against his beer.

As a business owner, I too protect my brands and licensing. You would be a fool not to. In fact, I have been challenged on one of my TM’s recently and had to suffer the financial loss of fighting for something that I had already paid for. And for a small business owner, that, well, sucks.

Read the article Alex. Yes he’s defending his trademark, but that trademark’s a farce and he’s doing it to bully other brewers.
As mentioned in the article, having this go to court would get it laughed out, but that’s not the intention, the intention is to bully the breweries who wouldn’t be able to afford the legal fees to win this.

What he’s doing may be legal (a lot of dickish behavior is legal) and within his rights, but it’s certainty within our rights to say “hey, we’re not going to support a business that operates in this dickish (though legal) manner, and we’re going to tell as many people as we can about it.”

There’s business and there’s community. In a small-ish city like Vancouver that’s experiencing an epic boom of craft beer and breweries, Steamworks has set in motion a move that most, if not all, craft beer drinkers will consider douchebaggery, and contrary to the spirit of this mini beer revolution we’re all riding.

By not playing nice, Steamworks could very well alienate it’s community and craft-beer customers.

I for one will not be buying or supporting Steamworks until they apologize for being dicks.

Notice this too: Mr. Gerschkovitch and Steamworks are mutually inseparable; yes, Conrad makes excellent beer, yes, Mr. Gerschkovitch is being a douche; but how can I support Steamworks when the guy running the show is playing mean?

Who loses because Mr. Gerschkovitch decided that business trumps beer? The servers, the brewers, and everyone else who makes a living there.

Steamworks needs to focus on making better beer and not on legal distractions. For example, their pumpkin beer has slid far down the quality scale in recent years, and they are having trouble competing with better, more engaged brewers. Quality product will speak for itself. This whole issue is only going to offend consumers and fellow brewers, which will hurt Steamworks in both the short and long term.

This is a bad move by an over hyped brewery that has a craft pilsner as its flagship beer. A beer which costs more in a six pack than an eight pack of Old Style! No matter how good this one beer of theirs is, it is doubtful that Old Style drinkers (like my grandfather) will buy it, and most craft drinkers have moved on to more exciting beer styles years ago. Sheer brilliance.

@Loxy — I can confirm off-record that several local breweries have been “contacted,” which generally means a warning call as a precursor to a C&D if they won’t comply. Companies are somewhat nervous about going on-record to confirm such things, but Granville Island is willing to confirm being called by Steamworks over their CDA. They are considering their options.

@Shaun – I don’t think that is comparing apples with apples… Red Truck/Blue Truck is kind of copying a brand name so I can see merit in that one. Cascadian is a style of beer so that would be like trademarking ‘Pale Ale’.

There is a very easy way for these breweries to hit Mr. Gershkovitch where it counts and that is by not selling their beer to the Rogue Wetbar chain, which is also owned by Gershkovitch. Rogue Wetbar likens itself a craft beer bar, without being able to serve craft beer that’s sure to foil his business plan. Seems like he’s okay with stealing names when it comes to beer though, Rogue Ales anybody?
Never trust a brewery owner that doesn’t even drink beer.

GIB CDA will be the test. GIB being owned by Molson Coors now, should Molson decide that they’d like to use the CDA term as well, I’m sure they will send their own pack of lawyers to tear him a new one.

I can’t see what all the fuss is about. Cascadian Dark Ale is a pretty dumb term that isn’t widely used. OK, Black IPA is an even dumber term, but: everyone knows what it means; no-one can trademark it.

Having worked for the Steamworks brand at one point in my life I was amused to stumbled on this story given another that I has heard during my tenure at Steamypile (as it was dubiously known by the staff). It would seem that Eli plays the trademark game on both sides of the fence to whichever end best suits his needs. Check it out http://www.marquedor.com/telemarque/annee2006/vol13no10c_detail_en.html another BC business squashed by my former employer. I could tell you some stories….

Licensing the name for $1 to whoever he chooses is bullshit. He’s only doing it because a) this thing has gone viral and he looks like shit because of it, b) he gets to pick and choose who gets to use it (so Phillips can make a CDA but GI can’t?), and c) it reinforces his claim on the trademark (ie. if it ever goes to court against GI he can say “look at all these breweries who license the name from me. Obviously they believe the mark is valid too!”). Gotta hand it to the guy, he’s a shrewd little bastard. I guess that’s how you end up owning Ferraris and Cesnas. He’ll probably get a wave of goodwill for this gesture, but none from me…

I never thought the day would come, but for once in my life I’m rooting for Molson *shudder*

FYI, the Bushwakker produces Saskadian Dark IPA.
I’m surprised that the analogous situation, involving Anchor Brewing’s capture of the style name “Steam Beer”, hence the new name for the style “California Common”, has not come up yet.

Wait, what? Did they just say they’re only going to license the name to the “real craft breweries”? Is this seriously coming from the beer that doesn’t even own a brewery, and instead contracts their beer production out to Dead Frog?

The McDonalds comparison is a poor one. I fully accept the TM or McDonalds, I don’t accept the TM or Hamburger. CDA is not a brand, but a type of beer. Sure there are variations, just as there are variations of hamburgers, but you should not be able to TM a type of beer. What’s next, TMing ‘India’ or ‘Winter’…

Give it a rest and focus on making beer.

Ps. I guess it’s not really his fault, he was issued the TM. I do think that he should have never been issued the TM in the first place, but that’s what happens when you mix government and beer, bad things always happen.

Ultimately, Cascadia is a place name that has been connected to a style of beer, he would lose if he got near a court they hate trademarks of general place names maybe Molsons will take him on to defend GIB.

Folks, Dead Frog brewery makes Steamworks beer and Conrad is opening his own Brewery near Main Street – Explains the difference in package product versus at brewpub.

I also wonder how Steamworks beer is allowed to be sold at the ever so outdated and horrible 90’s inspired Rouge Bars – Isn’t Eli breaking the Tied House Rules, should he not be sent a cease and desist for that??

I wont be drinking Steamworks any longer I am holding out for Conrad to open his new brewery.

John Hallett works at XXXXXX XXXXX and wastes his days (and employers time) writing and obsessively commenting on his own posts. Email his employers at XXXXXXXXXXXXX if you think he should stick to his day job.

Insert by Chuck: Not cool, “Jim.” I work hard to keep my employer’s business separate from my own, often writing/tweaking blog articles late into the night before a post. If you have you have a legitimate issue with my behaviour here or otherwise take it up with me. If you you have an issue with my performance at my job (because of first hand information or otherwise) take it up personally with my supervisors. I will gladly address any and all concerns.

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